Solent Stevedores welcome the LSLC Young Marine Professionals to the Port of Southampton

Solent Stevedores was recently asked to host a visit of the LSLC Young Marine Professionals to the Port of Southampton, along with the main sponsors BMT Surveys and the Institute of Maritime Law. The visit took place on Friday 5th July and the 47 visitors witnessed the Port of Southampton in full operation on a glorious summer`s day.

Upon arrival the group embarked on a Blue Funnel vessel which gave a 2 hour tour of the Port from the sea taking in the Eastern and Western Docks together with the DP World Container Terminal, a landside tour of the RO/RO Terminals and the Ocean Cruise Terminal, the Western Docks for a detailed tour of the Dry Bulks Terminal and the operations of Solent Stevedores, who handle Recycled Metal, Fertiliser, Animal Feed, Woodchip, Recycled Glass, Grain and Gypsum cargoes.

On the day Solent Stevedores was undertaking the discharge of an Animal Feed Bulker of over 17000 Tonnes of product which took place over 4 days working 24 hours per day. The group also took in the Mayflower and Ocean Cruise Terminals where Solent Stevedores were completing a full turnaround call with over 3000 passengers disembarking from their cruise and a further 3000 passengers embarking for the start of their cruise holiday.

The day ended with a tour of the DP World Container Terminal where a presentation was given and the group were allowed onto berth to view the loading of the Hapag Lloyd vessel "Chicago Express", with numerous Straddle Carriers continually feeding the supply of Containers to the Cranes. The tour ended at the Titanic Exhibition at Sea City, Southampton and BMT Surveys gave a presentation as did the Institute of Maritime Law.

Commenting on the day Ian Jacobs, Managing Director said

" It was a real pleasure to welcome delegates of the London Shipping Law Centre to Southampton today and for the group to witness another busy day here across all strands of Port business, which include RO/RO, Cruise, Bulks and Containers. It is particularly satisfying to showcase the Port to like minded individuals working in the Shipping legal sector and for them to gain some useful and practical knowledge of a successful working Port, and I have no doubt that the knowledge gained on the day, will help them in their careers ahead. Solent Stevedores was delighted to be involved and look forward to being of further assistance to the Group in future years".

Andy Morris from BMT Surveys provided the following feedback;

"I would like to pass the groups thanks to you specifically. The day was extremely well received by those who attended and this is down to the hard work and effort put in by yourself. Without your assistance this visit would never have happened and it is directly thanks to your organisation and contacts, that we got such rare access to a working port. I would also like to thank you once again for your informative commentary and anecdotes, which brought the trip to life! You really did the group proud and the feedback that I received after you left was all so positive, that it really made the day feel complete. I can't thank you enough Ian and look forward to possibly trying to repeat this success again next year."